The professional status and influence of the editors-in-chief of 769 medical journals were studied using the methods of citation analysis. Two indexes were formed (a) the Index of Editor Expertise (IEE): the ratio of the editor-in-chief's mean citation rate per cited paper to that of his or her journal and (b) the Index of Editor Authority (IEA): the ratio of the editor-in-chief's percentage of in-journal citations to that of his or her journal. According to these indexes, the editors-in-chief are not necessarily experts but authorities—at least in their own specialties.
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